


The Boy at The Window

by tenshi13



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Family, Hinata and Kageyama are mentioned, Insecurity, Loneliness, M/M, Nostalgia, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 19:43:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8909551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tenshi13/pseuds/tenshi13
Summary: Bokuto's everyday life is interrupted by a boy at his window. Not that he minds so very much - in fact, rather the opposite.





	

He lived alone in his fifth floor apartment. He’d rented it since leaving his parents’ house, three years ago now, but it simultaneously felt like longer and shorter than that. Still, the smell of cooked dinners lingered in his memory, along with the chaotic shrieking of his little siblings, and the pandemonium of plastic toys and teddy bears scattered all over the floor. On the other hand, he sometimes wondered if those things ever existed. Was it possible they were a mere fabrication, a result of wishful thinking? Regardless, he was here now, and there was no going back. He’d not spoken to his parents since he’d left. 

A breeze squeezed into the slither between the window and the pane. Starting, he moved to close it. The window spanned the length of the wall, and situated beneath it was a beanbag, almost as long. Bokuto sunk into it, curling his legs up to his chin, gazing out at the city. The people below seemed far away, bustling about like ants; insignificant. His phone sat in his pocket, and he sort of wanted to text Kuroo, but he also knew Kuroo was busy seducing his country bumpkin boyfriend, and didn’t want to disturb him. Instead he scrolled aimlessly through his contacts before putting his phone aside. There was no one he wanted to speak to. From the corner of his eye Bokuto thought he saw a glimpse of white, but when he turned there was nothing. Perhaps he should call it quits – he had work in the morning. 

Bokuto’s job consisted of partly heavy lifting and partly customer service. When there was no one in the pet shop he idly petted the owner’s cat – who often sat poised on the counter, appraising customers – or, more productively, helped unloading the stock. 

The door jingled and Bokuto wiped the handful of fur (why cats moulted in the winter Bokuto would never know) on his jeans. He smiled at the dark haired customer, standing up straighter. He thought it made him look more professional. It’s not like he was wrong either, but he was already slouching again when the customer came to pay.   
Bokuto rang it up and the customer disappeared into the blur of his day.

After his shift Bokuto intruded on Kuroo, “Bro!” he yelled, banging on the door. It took a minutes before Kuroo was there, his hair worse than ever. One could only assume he’d been sleeping. 

“Sup?”

“How did your date go?”

He received a squint in response, “T’wasn’t a date.”

Bokuto raised both his eyebrows so high they almost disappeared in his hairline. “How did your totally platonic dinner and a movie not-date go?”

Kuroo tried to look affronted but the smile gave him away. He stepped aside, letting Bokuto into his apartment. Kenma sat curled up on the sofa, game console in hand. “Hey, Kenma!”

Bokuto received a small mumble in response but his attention did not leave the game.

“Have you heard about Kuroo’s not-date?”

“Only in excruciating detail.”

“We kissed!” Kuroo exclaimed gaily (in every sense of the word).

Bokuto hooted and Kenma tried to fold in on himself. “Shhh…” he urged.

Kuroo rolled his eyes at Kenma, “Don’t be such a spoilsport. How are you and chibi-chan these days?”

Kenma shut off the Gameboy. “We aren’t going out. We were never going out. Leave me alone Kuroo.” He went into his bedroom, locking the door behind him.  
Bewildered he looked to Bokuto for support.

“I dunno bro.” He shifted uncomfortably. “You want me to leave so you can talk to him?”

Kuroo nodded dazedly, “Uh, yeah. Sorry Bo I know you just got here.”

Bokuto shook his head, “Nah, s’all good. Tell me about your hot date some other time, yeah?”

He left Kuroo and Kenma to their devices. Now, he was left with the problem of how to fill his time. A whole evening alone didn’t sound appealing yet with a lack of superior options, he found himself sat on his beanbag, staring at the sky. There wasn’t anything on telly so after watching an episode of a soap he’d already seen he decided that watching the sky darken was more interesting.

A flash of white caught his eye. He turned, but it had gone. Sure he wasn’t imagining things this time Bokuto pushed open the window, peering out.   
He came face to face with a boy.

“Holy shit.”

The boy seemed unfazed.

Bokuto took a minute to process. Somehow there was a boy, pale faced, dark eyed, hovering outside his window. He looked down, but he couldn’t see what the boy could possibly be standing on. “Are you a ghost?”

The face frowned, “Maybe.”

Bokuto shoved open the window as wide as it would go. “Do you want to come in?”

The boy hesitated. “If that’s okay.”

Bokuto stepped back to allow him through. Instead of climbing through, one leg at a time as Bokuto was (naturally) expecting, the boy seemed to… desolidify. His dark hair and eyes folded into the darkening sky, while the paleness of his skin blurred into a cloud of dense fog that floated into the room. Once inside the room the fog resolidified as a boy. 

“Whoa.” Then, “Who are you?”

“I’m Akaashi Keiji.”

Are you supposed to befriend random beings that appear at your window? Bokuto didn’t know, and he decided not to ask. (The philosophy that led him to failing his exams incidentally). Nor did he tell anyone, but it became a sort of routine for Bokuto to come home, open his window, then sit either on the beanbag or the TV as though he wasn’t waiting for Akaashi to join him. Akaashi only came after dark, Bokuto noticed, although with the steadily darkening nights that was hardly an issue.

When he came they talked. Akaashi didn’t divulge much information about himself, but Bokuto was happy to talk. He spoke about Kuroo, about Kenma, about their fight. About his job, volleyball, his favourite TV show. Otherwise he would show Akaashi films. Ghostbusters, first the old (because Akaashi had never seen it) and then the new.  
“How did you like it?”

“So-so.”

“Whaaat? Akaashii!”

(As they delved into an argument about the finer points of film making).

Then, inevitably, Bokuto had a down day. He left the window shut. Akaashi did not come. The evening after Akaashi asked him flat out, “Why did you lock me out Bokuto?”  
He felt at a loss to explain. He didn’t want to share this dark feeling that squashed his chest, because he felt perhaps it was of his own doing. That it was his own fault the weight resided there. Anyway, even if he did, what could Akaashi do? Tell him that it would be fine (yeah, well. Maybe it would be, it was NOW that was the problem), offer worthless reassurances, or worse, pity?

Yet he wanted to.

But what if he didn’t care?

He sat, undecided.

“You can be honest with me Bokuto. Why were you upset?”

Halting, Bokuto told him. Not everything, but something. 

Akaashi reached out a hand comfortingly and it rested on Bokuto’s shoulder. 

“Your hand is cold.”

“Sorry,” he immediately withdrew it.

“No, no, it’s fine.” He grinned, eyes a little watery. 

Overtime, Akaashi learned more about Bokuto. In pieces, in increments. Desperately, Bokuto wished for Akaashi too to share his thoughts as they lay at either end of the settee, Akaashi (always he was cold) pressing his feet against Bokuto’s warm legs where their limbs met in the middle.

Yet Akaashi volunteered nothing, and Bokuto didn’t feel it was his place to pry.

One day, Akaashi did not come to the window. Nor the day after that, or the day after that. It felt simultaneously as though it had been forever and no time at all since his last visit. Phantom brushes of cold feet still haunted him, the memory of dark eyes burned on the back of his eyelids. It felt like a fever dream. Surely such a being could not, did not, exist. If he told anyone they’d pack him off to a mental asylum. He sighed deeply.

“Bo, you alright?”

“Yeah man, just thinking about work.”

“Bummer.”

Eventually he stopped leaving the window open – but only after he caught a chill. 

“Have you developed a spontaneous allergy to cats?” Kuroo asked, sprawling over the counter.

Bokuto sneezed, “Dude I obviously just caught a cold.”

Kuroo propped himself up on his elbow, “I sense treachery and deceit.”

He considered for a moment. “Okay, so I met this guy-”

Kuroo squealed, “Oh my god you’ve got a secret boyfriend!”

Bokuto hooted, “Bro I didn’t even know your voice went that high what the hell.”

Kuroo reddened, “Shh. Or actually no, please continue.”

He took a minute to get back into the story, “So we’ve kind of been meeting up for the past couple of months.”

“Months?” How did you even keep this from me?”

Bokuto grinned, “Tsukishima.”

“Fair point.”

“So anyway he’s blowing me off and I guess. I guess I miss him.” Bokuto deflated, “It’s nothing.”

Kuroo drew himself to his full height, “Bo, you know I platonically love you right?” His hand gripped Bokuto’s shoulder.  
“Yeah…”

“Well do you remember when Kenma thought shrimpy-chan was blowing him off?”

Bokuto frowned, “Didn’t that turn out to be because Hinata started dating Kageyama? Because if that’s the case here that doesn’t really solve my problem.”  
Kuroo cocked his head, “Overlooking that for one whole second. My point is there’s probably a perfectly reasonable explanation, but you’re not gonna know what that is moping about. You gotta ask him.”

Bokuto bit his lip, “I’ll try.”

Kuroo examined his face carefully, “It doesn’t matter what the reason is okay? But you have to ask else you’ll be wondering forever.”

“True.”

“Good luck.”

When Bokuto got home he breathed on his window, forming a temporary fog. ‘Akaashi’ he spelt, with the tip of his finger. Already the mist was fading, but Bokuto hoped the fact it was still there (even if you couldn’t see it) meant something. Then he swung his window open wide.

Akaashi found him sound asleep on the beanbag under the window. The guy was probably an icicle by now so he pulled the window shut behind him. Then he hovered, unsure whether to wake him. Perhaps, after all, it would be better to leave. Probably Bokuto didn’t want him here anyway. But before he could, Bokuto opened his eyes.

“Kashi!” Immediately he was awake and Akaashi’s cold body was pressed into Bokuto’s warmth, “I’m glad you’re back.”

Suddenly Bokuto backed away and bowed, “Whatever I did I’m really, really sorry and I’ll never do it again.”

“It’s fine Bokuto-san you don’t need to apologise.”

“But you must have been upset for a reason,” Bokuto reasoned, “Tell me?”

Akaashi took a breath. “I thought you didn’t like me.”

“Huh?”

They stood, Akaashi’s head bowed in shyness rather than formality with Bokuto gazing on, gobsmacked. “Of course I like you Akaashi I-” he stopped himself, “really, really like you,” he finished, lamely.

Akaashi laughed, “Okay.”

“Can I ask Akaashi, why you thought I didn’t like you?” Bokuto’s golden eyes gazed steadily into Akaashi’s. 

“Because you didn’t seem interested in me.”

Bokuto was even more perplexed, “Why?”

Akaashi fiddled with his fingers, “Well, you never asked me. About myself, so.” He stopped. 

Bokuto felt realisation dawn, “I only never did because I thought you didn’t want to share with me!” Then hesitantly he asked, “Does this mean I can ask you questions?”

“As many as you like.”

“Okay.” Bokuto said.

“Are you a ghost?”

“No.”

“Then are you an angel?”

“Definitely not.”

“You look like an angel.”

“That’s not a question.”

“Okay, here’s a question.”

“Yes?”

“Will you be my boyfriend?”

“Yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :) This is not what I set out to write at all but here we are. In case anyone was wondering Bokuto's on bad terms with his family because of his sexuality, he misses them. And Kuroo's and Kenma's argument stemmed from the fact Kenma had an unreciprocated crush on Hinata.


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